My E3 Experience & Destiny.

I travelled to E3 in LA after winning a competition hosted by IGN UK and Activision; I took my friend Danny who turned 21 while we were out there so he owes me an awesome birthday present in return! LA is really cool and the event itself was amazing, more then I could have imagined it to be. I had the opportunity to meet several developers and play games that I have been looking forward to but have so far only been able to read about – such as Destiny.

On Day Two of the show, Danny and I were given VIP wrist bands that gave us access to the Destiny booth after hours. That was a really cool session and I got to meet the Destiny community manager, Deej, who spoke to me about how Bungie is a community driven company and how they are keeping that same focus for Destiny. I also met Dan, a lead producer on Destiny, who spoke to me about how much fun it’s been creating it and some of the inspirations the team has drawn on. Dan also explained that things can change drastically during development and that the game that will be coming out in September actually looks very different to how it did at the beginning of production. It was great to get uninterrupted hands-on time with each of the classes and get to grips with the character abilities, weapons and game features.

I also had the opportunity to attend the Sony Press Conference, which was held on the evening before E3 started. I was not sure what to expect when I entered the Sports Memorial Arena where Sony held their conference because I had only ever watched press conferences online. When I walked into the hall where the event was being held I was blown away by the size and layout and how full the event was. Throughout the entire show people were cheering and clapping at almost everything the Sony reps said; it was a great atmosphere. I was also excited by the new releases that were announced and also the range of new features that are coming to the PlayStation platform – from PSVita to Sony TV, PlayStation Now and the new content that will be available to PSN+ users. As part of the competition prize, I received a PlayStation 4 and I will be looking to purchase a PSVita to go with it!

Overall, E3 was amazing and I’m really pleased that Danny and I were able to attend as it’s usually an industry-only event. It was great to get insight into the industry, to play games that won’t be out for a while and to meet the people involved in making them.

Destiny – Hands-On Experience

I had the privilege to play the game after hours on the second day of E3. My first impressions of the game were very positive and I was blown away by it. The graphics, characters, and the world look so amazing and so detailed that I spent some time just looking around and seeing all the detailing and features of the game. The way the game flowed and played was also fantastic; it felt so comfortable that I felt I had been playing the game for years.

I also received Destiny Alpha and Beta codes for me and my friends so I’m looking forward to creating our very own Fireteam and getting stuck into Destiny. We played the Alpha build pretty much non-stop after arriving back from E3. In my opinion, Destiny is going to be a massive hit and will be so for years to come. I cannot wait to experience the full game it for myself and go with Bungie/Destiny into the future.

Thank you to Activision and Bungie for this most amazing experience and to IGN for choosing me as the competition winner that got to experience it all.